Running From Reality
by 21ShootingStars
Summary: Two years after the war is over Harry has an idea. He means to go back to stop the war from happening, but he ends up in the Marauder Era accidentally.Will it be a good thing, or will his life become terrible? Maybe both.
1. Chapter 1

Hello people!

I'm gonna try writing a story totally different from anything else I've written. I'm not sure how it'll turn out, but we're gonna give it a shot; alright?

So, this one is my idea of what happens when you go through the Veil. Its gonna be Time-Travel, again!

_**To anyone who read this story before; **_I know it used to be Harry/Remus, but I've decided that I'm barely capable of writing a regular pairing that I'm familiar with, so I really can't write slash. So this story is now Harry/Hermione. There are a few new changes, so you might wanna re-read the first few chapters even if you read it before.

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and that whole universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm thankful she lets us play with her wonderful characters.

On with the story!

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**This is the same chapter as it was last time I posted it; I just made a few corrections to things like spelling. If you've already read it, nothing is different. Sorry.**

"Harry, I'm coming with you." She insisted.

"No! 'Mione, you can't. Please, I need you to stay here; Teddy needs you to stay here for him. I'm not sure where I'll end up and I can't drag either of you into that!" Harry was adamant; there was no way she'd be taking _that_ risk with him.

Even though she'd always been by his side, even more so since the war ended and Ron left, Harry could just feel that this was something he shouldn't drag her into.

"You aren't dragging me into anything! Harry, you can't leave me behind; not now that we're engaged! And I know Teddy would miss you terribly if you just went away and left him with me; he's gotten used to you being like his father these past two years."

Harry closed his eyes and took in a pained breath. _Has it really only been two years? It feels like a lifetime._

The pain of the war still hit many people hard, even though most tried to put it behind them and act as if it had never happened; Harry wasn't fooled. He saw the way the Weasleys still cried over losing Fred, he knew he still felt a tug in his heart at the slightest reminder of those he had lost.

Especially Remus and Tonks, the two who had had everything to look forward to and a son to care for. A son who Harry was now _trying_ to get Hermione to take in so that Harry could go back and just fix this whole _mess_ that was the aftermath of a war.

"No, Hermione. This is going to be dangerous, I think I know what I'm doing but there are no guarantees. If something goes wrong… Merlin only knows what could happen! We could end up eighty years in the past of a million years in the future; I hope neither of those happens, but we both know not much works out perfectly when we're involved."

Hermione held back a grin, she couldn't help but notice the way he said 'we'. The know-it-all knew that Harry would cave any moment now.

Harry had found a way he was fairly positive would be the best way to stop the war from tearing apart lives the way it had.

If everything worked out right, Harry would be transported back to the time of the Third Task of the Tri-wizard Tournament in his fourth year. From what he knew of this mode of time-travel, Harry had gathered that the current version of himself would just become the younger version of himself. In other words, Harry would look like a fourth year and have the body of his younger self, but he would have the mind and memories of the nineteen year old Harry.

He planned to just take the cup before Cedric had a chance, kill Pettigrew on sight, and trap the infant-like Tom Riddle in an invention of one of Harry's fellow Unspeakables. The invention itself was not a pleasant thing, it was basically to a cage that contained the magical energy of a witch, wizard, or creature, thus making them basically a muggle as long as they were locked in the machine.

The machine would be coming back to the past with Harry. The time-travel would bring anything within a one foot radius of him back with him.

Once that was done Harry intended to take the monstrosity back to Dumbledore with the portkey, tell Dumbledore all he knew about Horcruxes and then help the old coot to get rid of Voldemort once and for all by destroying them all.

Harry highly doubted it would work out exactly as planned, but it was worth a shot. Right?

"Harry, I'm a fully grown woman who can make her own decisions; I know this might turn into a disaster, but I want to take the risk with you! And if you try to just leave me behind I'll simply follow you." Hermione crossed her arms and glared at her best friend.

Harry knew he'd lost when she put it that way. There was no way he'd be able to stop her following him. After all, she was perfectly able to do the exact same thing he was planning to. She'd been there when he'd discovered the way to make this work and would know how to use it properly, too.

"Alright, go get ready. I want to leave tomorrow. And be prepared for anything! I'm bringing a shrunken trunk full of anything I would need to survive in any time; I suggest you do the same."

Hermione smiled at his resigned tone, they both knew she would always get her way where Harry was concerned. She wasn't even sure why he tried to resist her demands.

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The next morning Hermione apparated to Harry's London townhouse at 9 and let herself in with the key Harry had given her years ago.

She couldn't help but think about how their recent plans of her moving in were about to be ruined.

She immediately wondered if she was really in the right house. Almost nothing showed that he and Teddy had been living there for the last two years. She saw one trunk at the bottom of the stairs that was being filled with Teddy's belongings, which seemed to be packing themselves, and another, closed, trunk next to it, this one had seven locks and she knew it was like the one Harry had told her Mad-Eye owned. On closer inspection she discovered it held Harry's belongings, any of them Harry was attached to enough, or thought important enough, to bring; and apparently that was quite a bit of stuff.

Hermione found her boys in the kitchen where they were eating breakfast. Well, Harry was eating, or trying to; Teddy was mostly trying to see how much cereal he could throw into Harry's hair before Harry would put a stop to it.

They both looked terribly exhausted, and Hermione knew exactly why.

"How was the full moon last night?" She asked.

Harry looked up, shocked to see her so early, and replied "He manages to wear me out every time. I don't know how the Marauders put up with a full grown werewolf every month for so long. At least Teddy gets tired around 3 most months, I can't imagine how tired we'd both be if he didn't. But I suppose I'm just glad I can be with him when he transforms now, he didn't seem to be in as much pain all night like he did before I could transform."

Harry had, upon finding out that Teddy was affected enough by being Remus' son to actually be a werewolf, set up a place in his basement that was made to seem exactly like a real forest, except it had wards to keep teddy stuck down there while dangerous. After he had a secured a safe place for full moons Harry had gone off to Hogwarts and begged McGonagall to teach him to be an Animagus. He hadn't been able to stand the thought of Teddy all alone in such pain on the full moon.

It had taken longer than Harry liked, but finally, three months ago, he had succeeded in turning into a grey Snow Leopard.

In the time between discovering Teddy's werewolf side and finally completing the Animagus transformation, Harry had found that if he put his mind to it he was capable of a few things he'd never thought possible. The big one was that, after dozens of failed attempts, he had finally managed to properly brew the Wolfsbane potion for Teddy. It was now the one potion Harry was truly confident he could create on his own. He knew it was, according to Remus anyway, much more pleasant being a wolf if you had your own mind and he hoped that it helped Teddy.

"That's good. I hope you're not too tired to travel." Hermione joked, she knew that, tired or not, Harry wasn't going to postpone his trip through time any longer.

"Hardly! I'll be fine in a bit, by the time I've left Andromeda's I'll be perfectly ready to go."

"Why would you be going to Andromeda's house?" Hermione knew that Harry had become fond of Mrs. Tonks after adopting her grandson, but she couldn't imagine why he'd need to go visit her _now_, of all times.

"You know I can't take Teddy back to the past, she's agreed to….take care of him for me now that I can't. She's his godmother, after all." Hermione could hear the way leaving Teddy behind hurt Harry, and she didn't know why he would do this to either of them. Harry had to know it would hurt Teddy too for them to be separated like this.

"Why can't he come too, Harry?"

"Are you mental? What do you think would happen if I just showed up with a toddler all the sudden? And there's no way the ministry, or Dumbledore either, would let someone who is technically only fourteen years old take care of a kid! It would never work."

"…How about this, if anyone tries to take him away from you then my parents can adopt him, at least officially. You could still see him all the time and really be his father-figure still. I know they'd do it. They always wanted another child, but they couldn't get pregnant again."

"…Oh, alright. I don't like it, but alright. Let's go soon, just give me a minute to get us both cleaned up. I'll need a shower before I can go anywhere, I'm covered in cereal."

"You can go take care of yourself, I'll get Teddy cleaned up and ready to go."

"Thanks 'Mione." Hermione rolled her eyes at the nickname; he knew she hated to be called 'Mione, but he did it anyway. All the time.

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"You're sure?" Harry asked one last time, he wanted to be sure she hadn't changed her mind.

"For the last time; Yes, I am sure, Harry. Let's do this before we get caught."

They were standing in the Department of Mysteries, right in front of the Veil.

_The same Veil Sirius fell through all that time ago. _Harry couldn't help but remember that night, the night he'd lost his godfather. He remembered the still-laughing, shocked, face of Sirius as he fell slowly through the Veil and disappeared forever.

As an Unspeakable, Harry had access to information most people had never dreamed of. Something that he'd found out recently was that, though the Veil _does_ kill anyone who just so happens to touch it, the archway that the Veil hangs from had a slightly different purpose.

The Veil was only there to keep anyone from really using the arch for its true purpose. The arch was used by wizards, centuries ago before the consequences of time travel were found too great for it to be legal anymore, to go back in time and fix their greatest mistakes. It would allow you, if it found you and your cause worthy, to give it a date and location in the past and, if you knew and used the right incantation, you would be brought back to the specified date in order to fix your mistake.

The Ministry had placed the Veil in the arch in order to keep people away.

Lucky for Harry, the Head Unspeakable of that time hadn't exactly approved and he'd decided to leave behind a sort of…..instruction booklet on how to get rid of the Veil for a short time and activate the arch.

About a month ago, after nearly a year and a half of working in the Department of Mysteries as a Spell-Creator, Harry had accidentally come into the room where the Veil was kept. He had felt the same unexplainable pull to the stone dais where the arch stood as he had years ago. A morbid sense of curiosity had let to him investigating the archway.

He had been running his fingers cautiously over the outer edge of the stone arch when he felt a small indentation in the smooth stone. It was a perfect circle, about the size of a fingertip, and there had been something that told Harry it wasn't supposed to be there. He pushed on the indentation and found that his action had caused a small, secret, space to open in the stone. Investigating the opening he had discovered a scroll hidden inside. Across the very top of the scroll had been a warning to read the scroll only away from the Ministry building.

Harry had slipped the scroll into the pocket of his blue Unspeakable robes and gone back to his work for the rest of that day. That afternoon he apparated back to his townhouse, where Hermione had been babysitting Teddy for him. He had immediately found her and he told her his story. They'd read the scroll and discovered the truth about the Veil.

Harry hadn't taken long to come up with his idea to save the Wizarding World from a war that had torn it apart.

What had taken quite a while was convincing Hermione that his idea actually had merit and wasn't bloody ridiculous.

"Good. Let's do this."

And they began the task of causing the Veil to disappear. It was a simple spell, but alone Harry couldn't have done it. The Veil would only disappear if two or more magical people cast the spell at the same time.

Once the Veil was gone Harry and Hermione set to work quickly, knowing the Veil would only truly have disappeared for 15 minutes and therefore they needed to be through the arch before then. Together they said the lengthy incantation that would activate the arch and have it judge their intentions to see if they were worthy to use its power.

When five minutes had passed, five long, torturous minutes, the arch began to glow a pale gold, signifying that it would help the travelers who asked for its assistance.

Taking the gold glow for the permission it was, Harry and Hermione set to work specifying to the arch where and when they needed to be taken. This was fairly simple to do; the arch had two places on it that weren't made of stone, but rather parchment. It definitely was a bit odd to Harry that they were to tell the arch where to take them by writing it on pieces of parchment, but he figured that if that's the way it's done he might as well just go with it. Hermione wrote the date out on one of the parchments while Harry wrote the location. Hermione finished before Harry and went to go pick up Teddy who had been sitting, watching a few feet away from where the duo worked.

Harry finished writing the place they needed to be and joined Hermione. They she took hold of his hand as a blue mist began to fill the arch. Once the archway was filled with the swirling blue mist, together they stepped through the arch and the mist.

Hermione held onto Harry and Teddy for dear life as they were sent flying through space. There wasn't anything that she could see other than blackness. They were spinning and flipping and it was rather dizzying. Hermione thought that if it kept up for too long she just might lose her breakfast.

Harry felt very similar to Hermione.

They both noticed when after a time that could have been seconds or hours, no one was sure, the tumbling through nothing slowed and the blackness began to recede into a deep grey.

What they hadn't noticed was that, just as they walked through the blue mist, Teddy had set of his very first burst of accidental magic. And this oversight would likely be the cause of a few problems for the trio in the coming minutes.

҉…..҉…..҉

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Author's Note- Mwahaha! Aren't I cruel? I surely hope this cliffie is enough to interest you wonderful people.

I also surely hope you would be so kind as to review. It would make me very happy.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- Nope. Still not mine. I'm pretty sure the Harry Potter universe and all the characters still belong to J. K. Rowling. Hmm…Maybe she'll let me borrow Sirius sometime? I'd like that.

_**To anyone who read this story before; **_I know it used to be Harry/Remus, but I've decided that I'm barely capable of writing a regular pairing that I'm familiar with, so I really can't write slash. So this story is now Harry/Hermione. There are a few new changes, so you might wanna re-read the first few chapters even if you read it before.

As the tumbling stopped, finally, and the world began to gain some color and they all felt their bodies slam into the ground, Harry found himself wondering if it had worked. He'd never really doubted the power of the arch, but his instincts were just screaming that something wasn't right.

Suddenly Harry knew what didn't feel right, it was too quiet and there was far too much light shining through his closed eyelids. Harry jerked up off the ground in an instant; looking around, searching for a threat, Harry realized that at least part of the plan had worked. They were most definitely on the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts. The problem was that he was fairly sure it was not the right day, or even month. Harry distinctly remembered that the first time around there had been hedges growing on the pitch for over a month before the task; there was nothing at all resembling a hedge anywhere to be seen right now.

Harry began carefully trying to look for any clue to tell him _when_ it was. The castle was far too quiet for the middle of the day, as harry deduced it must be from the sun's position overhead, and therefore he was fairly sure that it must be either a holiday or a Hogsmeade weekend. Even during class hours the school was _never_ that quiet.

He was just about to begin head toward the castle and look for anyone willing to tell him the date when Harry heard what was unmistakably a noise of distress from Hermione. Turning around quicker than lightning, wand at the ready to defend her if need be, Harry paused when he saw what exactly was causing her distress.

It seems that Hermione had been smart enough to remember that she was a witch, while Harry had just been confused, and had used a charm that makes the time and date appear in midair.

"Harry! I think we have a real problem."

"Uh-huh. Definitely." That was all he could say. Harry didn't know what they should do now, because one thing he knew for sure about travelling with the arch was that there was _no_ reversing it. They were stuck.

They were stuck in 1977, on August 24th.It was a week before the Marauders were to start their final year at Hogwarts.

_Merlin, what a disaster!_

Harry knew that he really shouldn't, but he was terribly tempted to find Dumbledore, explain this mess, and _maybe_ become a seventh year himself. After all, he'd never really gone back to Hogwarts after the Final Battle and had therefore never gotten his seventh year at the school…the idea was definitely tempting.

"'Mione, will you help me with something? There's something I really want to do."

"What?"

"Will you do a few charms on me to change my appearance? Make me totally unrecognizable, I need to look like a seventh year but not like myself."

"What are you planning Harry? " She sounded like she knew full well what Harry was planning, and wasn't sure that she approved.

"I don't want anyone in this time to realize I'm related to James. And….I want to try being a seventh year. My parents will be here, Sirius will be here, and Remus will be here. Please, Hermione, can we do this?"

"We? I'll let _you_ do you do whatever you want, but _I'm_ definitely not going back to school if I don't have to. And if you get to come to school I'll help you disguise yourself."

"You are denying the chance to learn!" Harry pretended to be horrified. "I can't believe it."

"Well, I, unlike you, already went to my seventh year. I went back when McGonagall gave us all the option. But Harry, really, I don't know if you should do this. If you do decide to do it, I'll keep Teddy while you're at school, but I just don't think it sounds like a good idea. How do you plan to even get Dumbledore to let a nearly twenty year old man be a student at his school?"

Harry frowned; he had a feeling that the only way Dumbledore would be allowing him to be a student was if he knew the truth, but Harry wasn't sure he wanted _anyone_ to know the truth. Not even Dumbledore.

Harry, Teddy, and Hermione settled down, still on the Quidditch pitch, to figure this out. It never really crossed their minds that they shouldn't be on Hogwarts grounds during the summer break, especially when absolutely no one in this time knew them and they truly had no reason to be there.

The thought _definitely_ crossed their minds when Professor Dumbledore swooped onto the pitch looking ready to attack at the first sign of motion from either of them. He was every bit as terrifying as he had been the first time Harry discovered why Dumbledore was feared by so many, the night of the Third Task. The twinkle of his eyes was conspicuously absent and he didn't seem to be in a trusting mood.

"Who are you? How did you get into the school? Why are you here?" He nearly growled. Hermione gave a frightened sort of 'squeak' and Teddy had himself halfway hiding behind her. Harry sympathized for them; he knew this was the first time they'd seen the frightening side of Dumbledore, and in Teddy's case just Dumbledore in general, and it was bound to be quite terrifying. Even Harry, who had seen Dumbledore's frightening side a time or two, wasn't immune to the sudden fear. He was now painfully aware of the fact that the wizarding community was as much at war in these days as they'd ever been in Harry's time; _of course Dumbledore would_ _be concerned about uninvited, unrecognizable, people on the grounds of his school!_

Harry wanted to hit himself for not thinking of this all earlier.

Harry managed to say, while at wandpoint, "I'm Harry Potter, this is my son Teddy, and that's Hermione Granger. We were _trying_ to travel through time to 1995, when we were students here, but appear to have made a mistake."

Dumbledore's fierce expression softened slightly, but he still held his wand perfectly aimed and ready to hit either of them. He silently observed the two, using legilimency to try and discover if Harry told the truth. He cast a patronus and sent it back to the castle with a message.

Five minutes, five minutes of staring at each other, later Slughorn, looking far younger than Harry had ever seen him, came bustling onto the pitch. He looked confusedly at the intruders, but handed Dumbledore a vial full of clear liquid.

Harry, of course, recognized it as Veritaserum and knew that they were about to be subjected to questioning under its influence. He didn't argue when Dumbledore told them that he'd be much more willing to trust them if they just took it willingly. Neither did Hermione. They answered all of Dumbledore's questions, not that they really had a choice while under the influence of the potion.

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It was nearly two hours after Dumbledore found them and they were now all seated in the familiar Headmaster's office.

Dumbledore had asked them exactly why they were there while under the Veritaserum. Harry had responded that he was trying to end the war earlier than he had the first time.

Dumbledore had originally not wanted to know too much about the future, afraid to change it, but after hearing that Harry had been the one to end the war Dumbledore hadn't been able to stop himself from finding out more about the war.

He'd asked Harry to tell him what 'exactly' his involvement in the war had been, all the while knowing that he really shouldn't be asking about the future. So Harry told him 'exactly' what his involvement was in his time. Harry told him the entire 'Boy-Who-Lived' story. He told him about Voldemort disappearing for over a decade and then coming back to life. Harry told all about the Horcruxes and the Final Battle.

All the while Slughorn and Dumbledore listened horrified. _What had their society turned into that __**children**__had to fight wars like that? And __**how**__ had Tom Riddle possible become such a monster?_

By that time Dumbledore had heard enough to know that these people were on his side of the war and weren't at his school for some nefarious purpose. He gave Harry the antidote to the truth serum and brought the odd group up to his office.

Harry told Dumbledore that he'd never actually finished his schooling and asked if the man would allow him to return as a seventh year. Dumbledore obviously saw through the lie that it was a desire to 'finish schooling' that made Harry want to be a student again, but he tactfully let it slide and told Harry that he was sure something could be arranged.

They decided that Harry _should_ have his appearance altered so that he wouldn't resemble James Potter and that he would be sorted on September first with the ickle firsties. And he would now be called Harry Marks.

In the coming week Harry, Hermione, and Teddy would stay at the Leaky Cauldron until they found a place to live. Harry had planned well enough for a possible mistake in what time they were sent to that he had actually emptied his vaults at Gringotts and put it all in the largest, expanded, compartment of his trunk, and Hermione had done the same, so they had plenty enough money to get a house of some sort.

Hermione and Teddy were going to live there while Harry went to school with his parents.

Dumbledore had offered to let both of them come back to school and have a house elf take care of Teddy, but Hermione was not interested. She was adamant that she'd definitely had enough schooling to last her all her life and didn't want to come back.

Harry, who still remembered Hermione as the little girl who would do anything for knowledge, was definitely shocked at that.

He had a feeling that she was looking forward to being Teddy's mum all by herself and didn't want to give it up for anything; she'd told him over a year ago that she'd found out she couldn't have kids and the realization had hit her hard. She'd never really wanted them until she knew she'd never be able to have a child, and Harry was happy that she'd at least get to have a sort-of adopted son. Even if it was the boy he already thought of as his own son and that he was soon to be her son, too, anyway, once they got married.

Harry knew that the Lupin he knew would be glad that Harry fully thought of Teddy as his own, especially when Lupin knew that Harry and Hermione wouldn't be having children of their own.

At the Leaky Cauldron they got their room and got ready to leave and go house-hunting. The main thing that Hermione thought needed doing before they left was that Harry needed to have his appearance changed; after all, they wouldn't want people to start thinking about the Potter family when they met Harry Marks.

Harry, after seeing his new appearance, decided that if Hermione wasn't brilliant enough to do anything she wanted, then she'd definitely have been able to get a pretty good job at a beauty shop or something like that. He had to admit that she did a brilliant job of both making him totally unrecognizable as Harry Potter and managing to make sure he didn't look like crap. In fact, Harry thought he looked quite good when she was through with him.

His black hair had been turned a dark brown with natural-looking dark mahogany-red highlights. It was kept from looking messy with a small amount of hair-gel, which Harry had been tempted to not let Hermione put anywhere near his head, and now had loose waves that gradually became more curly closer to the ends of the hair. She'd used a bit more hair-gel to keep the front pulled out of his face and slicked back behind his ears and in the back of his head the hair was allowed to just be free. Harry had been concerned that his hair would _look _and, probably, feel like it had gel in it, like Malfoy's always had, but he was pleasantly surprised to see that he couldn't tell that there was a single trace of the stuff in his hair and it was still the same silky texture as always.

Next she'd given him a slightly longer face with slightly stronger facial-structure. He'd been given a healthy surfer-boy tan that made him look like he was always outside.

His body shape was left mostly the same, except she made him a bit more muscled than he really was.

He didn't exactly look seventeen, but he figured it would be fine because he highly doubted people would question his age as long as he told them he was seventeen.

All in all, he looked _nothing_ like a Potter. The only things that made him remotely recognizable were the piercing green eyes, now shining clearly without glasses thanks to a muggle procedure that he's had done before they'd left the future in 2000, and his lightning bolt scar which was clearly visible now that no one would be fascinated by it and he felt no need to hide the blasted thing.

"Bloody hell, 'Mione! I didn't know you were so good with appearance charms. You made me look pretty damn good, if I may say so."

"Thanks. I figured if I was going to make you look different, I might as well make you look good. You just might have difficulties batting the ladies away at school."

"Don't worry; you're the only lady I have eyes for."

Hermione snorted at him, "Good. But I don't know how I feel about you looking like this;it's too different, it isn't you. Not that you don't look nice, but I thought you looked pretty nice the first way, too, and that's just what I'm used to. I guess I'll get used to this."

"Thanks, that's good to know. You're pretty gorgeous, yourself, if you'll pardon my saying so." Harry smirked at her when she blushed. She never did get used to compliments from anyone; it probably had something to do with all the years of Ron and Harry barely thinking of Hermione as a girl, much less paying her compliments. Harry'd only realized how much he liked her and asked her out a few months after the Battle of Hogwarts.

He remembered a time, before he'd asked her out, that they never would've been comfortable enough to talk like that to each other.

They even managed to convince Teddy, the little metamorphmagus, to keep his appearance similar to that of Harry's new one, making them truly look like father and son.

Before they left the three put on muggle clothes that were plain enough not to stand out in this time, deciding that they might have to get some things that would help them blend in a bit better while they were out.

They spent the next four days looking for a house before they found one that was simply too wonderful to pass up. They didn't really want to live in the main part of London and mostly searched the suburbs.

When they were signing the deal with the previous owners Harry refused to let Hermione pay for half, claiming that he and Teddy were taking up more space in the house than her and that it was his idea that brought them there and so he should be the one to buy the house; and besides, she was going to be his wife so what was his, was now hers, too, and he wasn't going to let her pay for half a house when he could easily get the whole thing. Plus, it was the chivalrous thing to do. Hermione didn't like it one bit, but Harry wouldn't give in and eventually he got his way.

The House they finally found was in, ironically, east _Wands_worth on Patten Road. It was a large red-brick Victorian home with white trim and shutters and ivy climbing the outer walls; the front yard had a small rose garden, which Hermione absolutely loved, and hedges on the sides of the yard, blocking the neighbor's yards. It had a little white picket fence at the edge of the yard by the sidewalk.

The backyard was large and had a small stone patio where they could put benches, or some other outside furniture.

The home was three stories, plus a basement. The four bedrooms were on the upper two floors. The master bedroom and two others were on the second. There was a single bedroom on the very top floor of the house and they decided to leave that one empty for now so that when Teddy got older he could have the whole story to himself if he wanted it. Harry and Hermione took the Master bedroom and, for now, Teddy got the room across from theirs.

The basement was large enough that Teddy would be able to have his transformations down there on the full moon. Harry put plenty of silencing charms around the entire basement to keep neighbors from wondering about a bunch of pained screaming and wild howling. He also put up cushioning charms all over the walls and floor to keep Teddy safe. He did something similar to what he'd done at his old London townhouse and put up illusions to make the basement seem like a forest. Hermione would be staying with him during the full moons as soon as she managed to transform into her animagus, which she knew to be a Spider Monkey. Harry was going to continue making the Wolfsbane potion for him as well, regardless of the fact that it technically hadn't been invented yet.

With magic the moving in was simple. Spare bits of junk were transfigured into furniture and, once all the blinds were closed to block out curious muggles, their belongings simply flew out of their trunks and into their new proper places. By nightfall the trio was moved in.

Harry didn't bother getting too comfortable; he would be leaving for Hogwarts in just three days.

He_ did_ meet a few neighbors. He got the distinct feeling that the neighbors weren't too sure about having a couple who barely looked twenty and a small child living next door. A few had actually been under the impression that Harry was the son of the new homeowners and that Teddy was his little brother and Hermione a sister. Harry and Hermione found great amusement in telling them otherwise.

Their story for the neighbors was that they were a married couple and that Teddy was their son. They told the neighbors that they were both twenty-three. It was definitely a bit of a stretch, but no one really commented. The story circulating among the neighbors, who seemed to be just as into gossiping as the ones on Privet Drive, was that Harry was a successful businessman and had to do a lot of traveling that often kept him from home for weeks at a time, while Hermione was a stay at home mother. Hermione had spread that around in order to explain Harry's absence while at Hogwarts.

Since Hermione knew how to drive, and Harry thought it would be a good idea to have some muggle way to get around, they also got a car. It wasn't really anything special, just a plain, black, car.

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Harry finally made his way to Diagon Alley with the list of school supplies for his seventh year the day before he was set to go to Hogwarts. He brought Teddy along with him, but Hermione was enjoying a day in muggle London and opted out of going to the Alley.

Many of the female shopkeepers commented on how Harry had such a cute little brother, he didn't bother correcting them, just smiling and agreeing. He didn't feel that he needed the sort of rumors that would fly if people in the wizarding world knew that someone who was still 'Hogwarts-age' had a child as old as Teddy.

Teddy was intrigued by the Alley, he'd been there before in the future, but it was just slightly different in this time. There were some shops that weren't the same ones he was used to and many of the things Harry had become used to seeing were absent. It took a bit of getting used to.

The Alley wasn't too busy that day, Harry assumed that most people had gotten their school supplies weeks ago and didn't have too much reason for being there that late in the summer.

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The next day Harry had to admit that he was totally exhausted.

The night before, Teddy seemed to know that something was going to change in his life soon, like Harry leaving, and he would not sleep for anything Harry had tried.

Harry never got him to sleep until it was time to wake up. Harry had just gone to get himself ready and left Teddy to sleep in his room while Harry took a shower and got dressed before going downstairs and making breakfast for the three of them.

Hermione, to Harry, looked disgustingly well rested and was far too happy on such a dreary morning as it was that day. It was nasty and rainy outside and Harry just hoped the day would clear up later.

By 10:15 everyone was dressed, fed, packed, and ready to leave. Hermione wasn't letting Harry just apparated to the platform and was insisting on driving Harry to the station just because she could.

At the station, they arrived about twenty minutes before the train was to leave; Hermione seemed to be trying to embarrass Harry if at all possible. She made a big scene of saying goodbye, giggling quietly all the while, and gave him possibly the biggest, bone-crushing, hug he'd ever gotten along with a wonderful goodbye kiss that had harry nearly changing his mind about going to school. She'd even roped Teddy into helping her.

It wasn't really working to embarrass him; he thought the whole thing was funny, to tell the truth.

He went and got on the scarlet train with ten minutes 'til 11. He smiled and waved through the window at 'Mione and Teddy and watched as they waved one last time before leaving the platform. In the compartment Harry's lack of sleep finally caught up with him. Leaning up against the wall Harry fell fast asleep, not to wake for a few hours.

҉

When he did awaken it was to an insistent poking in his side, and the sound of a hushed voice.

The voice was saying "Don't do that! The boy looks like he needs sleep."

The poking in his side stopped when Harry opened his eyes, and the person who was poking him came into focus.

Harry's mind went blank when the poker grinned at him and said "The lunch trolley's here if you're hungry. Oh, and I hope you don't mind we sat in your compartment; everywhere else was full."

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Author's Note- I bet you all can guess who's in Harry's compartment, right?

…Oh, and if anyone wants a clearer picture what I was _trying _to make Harry look like then think 'Orlando Bloom, with less hair gel'.

Review? Thanks.

21ShootingStars.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note- Hey! Thanks for all the positive reviews; I love to hear that people actually like what I write!

_**To anyone who read this story before; **_I know it used to be Harry/Remus, but I've decided that I'm barely capable of writing a regular pairing that I'm familiar with, so I really can't write slash. So this story is now Harry/Hermione. There are a few new changes, so you might wanna re-read the first few chapters even if you read it before.

Well…Here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer-Not Mine. It belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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"Dialogue"

_Thoughts_

҉

Harry nodded blankly and said "It's alright." before looking away from the teenager who was unmistakably Sirius Black.

He stepped out into the train hallway and shook his head to clear the sleep-fog and shock from it.

_I knew I'd be seeing them all again, why am I letting it get to me like this? _ Harry asked himself.

Putting the encounter from his mind for the moment, Harry walked the few meters over to where the trolley was stopped in front of a different compartment. As he bought a few snacks to munch on for the rest of the trip, Harry briefly noted that the same lady was pushing the trolley now as in his time.

He stepped back into his compartment slowly and shyly; Harry wasn't sure how to go about introducing himself, he'd never thought about how it might be awkward for him to already know so much about them while they knew nothing at all about him.

Harry recognized three of the four others in his compartment immediately, and one took him a second to recognize: Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and…..was that really Remus?

For a moment Harry thought his eyes were playing tricks on him; this Remus looked _nothing_ like the one Harry was used to. Sure, there was the familiar face, but Remus looked younger than Harry could've ever imagined him.

_Well, duh. Of course he looks younger Harry; it'll be nearly twenty years before you see him for the first time. He's obviously going to be a bit older. _Said a voice in his head; not the kind of voice that makes you crazy, though. This was Harry's regular thoughts. He's really not crazy, much.

Harry mentally rolled his eyes at himself, but he couldn't help marveling at the effect twenty years could have on a person. It seemed that, for Remus, those twenty years must've been hard ones. _Now_ there was not a grey hair on his sandy blonde head , he didn't look shabby in the slightest, he looked especially happy (the only time Harry could remember Remus being this Happy was when he had come to Shell Cottage to tell them all of Teddy's birth, and even then it was a different kind of happy. That had been a 'bursting with pride' happy, this was an 'I'm surrounded by friends and life is mostly amazing' kind of happy.), and he didn't look like something the cat dragged in.

Harry remembered Remus' face and any visible skin being littered with scars from his transformations, now he only had a few raw red lines on his arms and one short pink line under his left eye. There were others, but they weren't nearly as awful as the way Harry remembered. Harry assumed it was because he had now been transforming with the marauders around for nearly two years and had been mostly keeping his human mind, or as close to it as possible, and once all the marauders had been either murdered or arrested he'd had no one and had gone back to getting terribly injured once a month. Harry guessed that the few recent scars were likely from the last full moons over the summer while away from his Animagus friends.

These thoughts made Harry feel incredibly guilty for leaving Teddy to transform alone until Hermione was able to turn into her Animagus form.

Lily looked exactly as Harry's pictures showed. It seemed that the next few years won't really do much to her appearance.

Sirius wasn't what Harry was used to, but he was obviously still Sirius Black; only, he was a less haunted looking Sirius Black. His eyes lacked the dead look that Azkaban had a tendency to give and he held himself differently. The old Sirius was a brooding shell of a man, who had the occasional bout of liveliness. This Sirius had a mischievous air and nearly seemed to scream that nothing could bring him down from his cloud in the sky.

Harry shook these thoughts off and introduced himself to the teenagers and as they introduced themselves back he noticed the lack of his father. He figured that James was just off somewhere and that they'd eventually meet, and put the matter from mind and focused on Lily who was asking him why it was that they'd never met.

"Oh, I'm a transfer student. I'm just coming to Hogwarts for my seventh year."

"Why? Where'd you go before?" Sirius was curious about this new student, he seemed interesting and there was something about him that pulled Sirius in.

"I went to a small school in North-east Wales." Harry began telling the story that he and Dumbledore had agreed upon. It was terribly close to the truth and Harry didn't like it one bit, but it was easy to remember and that was why Dumbledore told him he should use it. "I'm at Hogwarts now because of some…issues in the school that happened at the end of my sixth year and during the time I should've been a seventh year." Harry really didn't want to get into the whole story and hoped they'd just let it drop.

"What happened?" Sirius pressed suspiciously, he didn't like the evasive way the last question had been answered in.

Harry sighed; he should've known Sirius never let anything drop.

"To make an incredibly long story short, a man who hated me killed the Headmaster at my school, who I looked up to as a grandfather, at the end of my sixth year. He was killed right in front of me. And the man who killed him took over the school as Headmaster the next year, and he knew I saw him kill the old Headmaster even though I was invisible at the time. I would've been killed if I'd gone back to that school."

The people in the compartment were a bit stunned and to them the worst part about it was the mostly nonchalant way in which Harry spoke about the whole thing; it was scary. Sirius suddenly wished he hadn't pushed for information.

Lily looked at Harry and saw the hidden pain in his eyes as the memories hit him hard now that he spoke about them. She leaped across the compartment and hugged him once the first and only traitorous tear slipped out of his eye as he remembered the broken bodies of all the people in this compartment. He even felt a slight pang for the loss of Peter, miserable rat that he was; he still shouldn't have died because of Voldemort. "Oh, that's awful."

Harry suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. He had never been entirely comfortable with being touched, a by-product of life with the Dursleys. He tried to get Lily to release him by saying "I'm alright with it now. It was a while ago." but she held on a few more seconds until there was a slight commotion in the doorway of the compartment.

"Rounds were terrible, guys. Those first years- HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?" James Potter had just come into the compartment to see his girlfriend, the girl he'd spent six years chasing, hanging on to another man. And he didn't like it one bit.

Any happiness Harry had expected at seeing James for the first time in his life was gone at seeing the far from happy expression on his young father's face. He was now even more uncomfortable with the fact that Lily had been hugging him as tightly as she had been, he had a feeling it wouldn't exactly warm James up to him. He had a brief flashback to the way James had treated Snape and remembered that it was mostly because James had been jealous of how close Snape had been to Lily, the girl James had his eyes set on since first sight. He really hoped things didn't turn out like that between himself and the Marauders.

"Nothing." Harry mumbled, sliding further down the bench away from Lily until he was right up against the window again. "I'm going back to sleep." He really was still tired, but he was mostly trying to avoid any more awkward moments during this trip. Within moments he was asleep once more.

The sleep wasn't a pleasant one. He had a nightmare; well it was more of a flashback, about the night on top of the Astronomy Tower when Dumbledore was killed. After the scene ended with Dumbledore's broken body falling in slow motion down to the ground, it changed into the last time Harry was in the Shrieking Shack watching Nagini kill Snape. Just as Snape said "Look at me." in the memory/nightmare Harry was awoken by the feeling of being shaken.

He opened his eyes and immediately leaned back in his seat at the shock of having someone, unexpectedly, in his personal space, again.

_What is it with these people in this time? Have they no respect for personal space?_

Harry's main problem with personal space is he doesn't like it unexpectedly invaded; when he knows it's coming its fine.

Other than the lack of respect for personal space, Harry noticed another thing different about Remus of this time, for it was Remus who woke him up this time. Harry was fairly sure he remembered the older Remus Lupin as having amber eyes, now his eyes were quite different. They were a most interesting shade of blue with little flecks and streaks of amber.

The only thing Harry could think had changed them was maybe it was a side effect of being a werewolf to have amber eyes and it just took a while for them to change completely.

Then Harry began to wonder why he was so fascinated with Remus to begin with. He decided it was because he was the Marauder Harry had known best, and he didn't seem to be remotely similar to the Man Harry remembered.

"Are you alright? You were shaking a bit." Remus asked as he stepped away from Harry.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Well, we're about to be at the station. You might want to put your uniform on."

"Thanks, I'll do that." Harry mumbled. He wasn't too sure about his whole idea about going back to school now that he was actually faced with the reality of it, and he was fairly sure that his father didn't like him from the way James had glared upon seeing him so close to Lily.

Sirius picked up on the slight awkward note in Harry's voice and said "Don't worry about James; he just overreacted to seeing his girlfriend all over you."

"Oh. So Lily's going out with him?" Harry asked, feigning ignorance on the subject. He noticed that James wasn't in the compartment and remembered that he'd already had his school uniform on earlier. As did Peter, who was also gone.

Lily had obviously left to give them a chance to change.

Sirius laughed. "Yep, Finally. He was chasing her for years."

Harry smiled at the comment as he dug through his trunk for the familiar uniform. It seemed some things never changed, even at Hogwarts.

He turned around after he got all his uniform out of the trunk and, searching for a new topic of conversation, asked "So, Dumbledore mentioned something about sorting; what's that about."

"He didn't tell you?"

"No."

"What do you think Moony, should we tell him or let him sweat? He's reminding me of a first year now with the worries about the Sorting." Sirius was grinning at Harry.

Remus shook his head at his friend as he taunted Harry. He took pity, knowing Sirius would never tell him if he could get away with it "The Sorting is simple. There are four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The houses all value certain character traits. The Sorting Hat is a hat that looks into your head and tells you which House you belong in."

"Thanks. That does sound simple enough."

Harry was just tying his tie, plain black because he didn't technically have a House yet, when he noticed _another_ something different about younger Remus. "What's that?" He asked.

"What's what?" Remus looked at Harry, raising an eyebrow.

"That." Harry said, while pointing to a spot on Remus' left upper-arm.

"Oh. _That _that. It's a tattoo." Remus responded while lifting his shirtsleeve higher so Harry could see the whole tattoo and glaring in Sirius' direction. Whatever the cause for the glare was, Sirius had the good grace to look away ashamed.

"It's cool, but I never would've pictured you as one for tattoos." Harry commented.

"That's because I'm not." Harry looked confused and so Remus explained. "That wasn't my idea. I didn't even know about it until I went to take a shower and saw that damn thing. That fool" Remus indicated Sirius, "got me piss drunk about two years ago and while I was knocked out he used a new spell that he'd been itching to try out. Apparently he'd had the whole thing planned for days; he'd even drawn the design himself. I hate it; I refused to talk to him for nearly a week. I'm getting rid of it once I figure out what spell he used."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the scowl on Remus' face. "That's too bad; I think it looks cool."

He turned to Sirius and asked "Why'd you choose that design?"

"Umm… It's sorta fitting for Remus. Stars are a guide to bring people back home safely in the night, they're lights in the darkness, and in some places this kind of star is a symbol for good health which is something Moony needs a bit more of. I just thought the flames added a little flare to it, you know? Oh, and the star also works for him becau-"

Harry never heard why because Remus had slapped his hand over Sirius mouth, removing it quickly with disgust on his face after Sirius licked him, and said "Pardon him, he's got issues keeping other people's secrets."

Harry chuckled at the two and said "Alright; I'll be sure not to tell him any."

Sirius looked offended.

They kept joking around until the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, Harry's worries that the rest of the Marauders would alienate him because of James' dislike mostly forgotten.

Sirius tried to get Harry to go with the first years across the lake, claiming it was a Hogwarts rite of passage, but Harry wouldn't have it. He told Sirius he'd already seen the castle before and didn't need to get all wet waiting in the pouring rain for the boats to cross the lake.

The three ended up in a carriage together with James and Lily.

It wasn't exactly awkward, but it wasn't the most comfortable Harry'd ever been in someone's presence. Harry honestly couldn't believe that his father was going to be so petty as to immediately hate someone just because Lily had been touching them.

_Honestly! It was just a friendly hug!_

Once they got to the Entrance Hall Harry gladly separated from the group, needing a bit of a break from icy glares from James. He just leaned up against a wall next to the door waiting for the arrival of the First Years. All of the students Second Year and up filed away into the Great Hall and the school's front doors closed.

When Professor McGonagall appeared Harry had to stifle a smile for two reasons. The first was that there were apparently going to be some things that never change; McGonagall still had her hair up in that severe bun, she still had a stern expression, and she still held herself with the same dignity. Not that Harry had expected anything less from the Head of Gryffindor. The second reason he felt the urge to smile was that she'd been in charge of greeting the First Years for far too long; she seemed to know exactly when they were going to arrive. Seconds after she walked into the room and reached the door, Hagrid's booming knock was ringing through the Entrance Hall.

Professor McGonagall welcomed the First Years with the same old speech that Harry remembered and once again left them to wait while she went into the Great Hall to see if they were ready for the sorting to begin.

Harry could feel the curious looks from the First Years, obviously they were wondering why someone his age was with them. He ignored it in favor of searching the crowd for familiar faces.

He felt a brief twinge of disappointment at the complete lack of fiery redheads before remembering that Bill Weasley, the eldest of the Weasley children, wouldn't be at Hogwarts for another five or so years.

He did recognize one person in the crowd. Harry had a good mental laughing fit at the sight of an eleven year old Kingsley Shacklebolt. He was still bald and tall, but Harry was disappointed to note that there was no earring. He'd honestly had no idea that Kingsley was so young; Harry'd always assumed he were older than that. It probably had something to do with the auror's (and future Minister's) slow, deep voice and intimidating persona.

Harry was brought out of his musing when the First Years, and therefore Harry, were brought into the Great Hall. He stayed as out of sight as possible, standing behind all the others as far as possible from the Sorting Hat.

He ignored the staring of his new peers easily, thanks to his many years of practice.

The sorting passed slowly; the only people whose names Harry recognized were Gwenog Jones, who would later go on to captain the Holyhead Harpies, and, of course Kingsley.

Jones was sorted into Ravenclaw, oddly enough, and Kingsley became a Gryffindor. No surprise on that one.

**The sorting ended with "Wiggleswade, Dempster" who became a Hufflepuff.** **Harry's turn came after Dumbledore stood and introduced him to the school, merely saying that he was a seventh year transfer.** **Harry walked calmly up to the stool and put on the Sorting Hat as he sat down. He felt quite foolish when the Hat still managed to slip over his eyes.** _**Please, Gryffindor. **_**He thought to the Hat.** **-** Well this is odd, I've only ever seen three time-travelers. All of them were in their predicaments because of broken time-turners. Yes, you're an interesting one…now where to put you? _**-**_ _**Gryffindor! **_**Harry urged.** - But I put you there last time. I agree with myself; you would've been a great Slytherin. **-** **Harry had to resist growling at the Hat. **_**But Gryffindor worked out just perfectly the first time around. It'll be perfect again and you know it!**_ - If you say so, but don't come crawling to me if you hate it. _GRYFFINDOR_ **-** **Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up. He truly had feared that the stubborn Hat would make him a Slytherin. And if there was one thing he didn't want to do it was share a dormitory with that many people who would later try to kill him. It was going to be bad enough being around Peter….** **He took the Hat off and made his way to the familiar Gryffindor Table amidst light applause. It didn't seem like the Gryffindors were sure what to think of him yet. Moony, Padfoot and Lily were definitely his loudest supporters.** "**This is gonna be fun! I hope you're not going to be a party-pooper when it comes time for pranking." Sirius gave him the sternest look he could, trying to impress upon Harry that being a party-pooper would **_**not**_** be tolerated.**

"Absolutely not; I wouldn't dream of it, Sirius."

"Good."

"Oh, no! Not another one."Harry heard Lily mutter. He shot her a grin and she glowered at him for it.

"Don't worry, Lily, I'm not too bad. I never really got much practice intentionally causing mayhem before; it was more like mayhem followed me. Everything I know about pranking comes from these twins I knew who plan to open a joke shop and my godfather. He was quite cruel, to tell the truth, when it came to his pranks; he didn't know where to draw the line. But the twins were harmless, if a little exuberant."

And it was true; from what Harry'd heard of Sirius' 'pranks' he really hadn't known where to draw the line. But the twins really were only interested in good fun.

"That's not entirely encouraging, Harry."

"Oh, really, Lily! Let the boy be. He can't be as awful as _some people_ are." Remus said, throwing a halfhearted glare at James and Sirius.

"We'll see about that. I bet he could be big trouble for us, Remy. He's got the air of a natural; one who can cause mischief with the slightest touch." Sirius said.

The rest of the meal, and walk back to Gryffindor Tower passed in much the same manner.

It wasn't like anything Harry'd ever been used to in his own time. These people didn't really have any certain expectations of him, and he was enjoying the friendly banter. It wasn't something that he's really gotten to experience with any friends save Hermione, and only in the last few years with her.

"Guys, I'm sorry, but I've just remembered I've got a letter to write for Hermione and Teddy. See you later." And Harry slipped up the dormitory staircase to the Seventh Year dorm that the guys had shown him hours ago when they first came up to the tower.

In the dorm he lounged on his bed and began to write to Hermione. Mostly he was telling her that he'd made it into Gryffindor again and that he was well on his way to being friends with most of his new dorm-mates. And that he missed her already.

He had just finished signing his false name at the end of his letter when the door opened and the Marauders filed in, all looking exhausted.

That reminded Harry that he was still quite tired himself; and there would be no Teddy keeping him up all night tonight. He gladly gave in to the sleep washing over him as he changed into pajamas and crawled into the four-poster that had been assigned as his.

"Hey, Harry? Who're Teddy and Hermione that you mentioned a bit ago?" Sirius mumbled, sounding half-asleep.

Harry mumbled back, sounding more than half-asleep himself, he was sure, "Teddy's m' son. And 'Mione's his mum." before rolling over and falling into the blissful, awaiting, darkness.

"Teddy's your WHAT?" came loudly from one corner of the room, but Harry, being asleep, didn't hear it at all.

"I think he just said he's got a son. Did he really just say that?"

"I think he did, Prongs."

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Author's Note- Not the best, I know. But it's a filler until I get ideas.

What I really need is a Marauder name for Harry, because he'll have to have one eventually. Ideas? Thanks.

Thanks for the lovely reviews and thanks to the people who added it as an alert.

Love you guys,

21Shooting Stars.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer- Not mine. All characters and recognizable plot belongs to JKR.

Author's Note- Just because someone commented on the tattoo design, I'd like to say that there is a reason for Remus' tattoo. But after a little more thought I _did_ decide to get rid of Harry's tattoo, so I edited the last chapter and got rid of it.

Oh, and I've changed a bit of the last chapter to make it so that Harry doesn't give them the whole story about how he fought Voldie and everything. I decided that if that happened one of them probably would've looked for more info on it and it would've been too suspicious when they found nothing. Now they just think it was impossible for him to go back to his 'old' school because the new headmaster, who killed the old one, didn't like him and would've killed him on sight.

_**To anyone who read this story before; **_I know it used to be Harry/Remus, but I've decided that I'm barely capable of writing a regular pairing that I'm familiar with, so I really can't write slash. So this story is now Harry/Hermione. There are a few new changes, so you might wanna re-read the first few chapters even if you read it before.

Big Thanks to _everyone _who reviews.

_CHAPTER FOUR_

Harry awoke to the alarm that he'd set the night before. He quickly cut it off before he woke anyone else up' he'd learned the hard way that dorm-mates don't exactly appreciate being woken earlier than they'd planned by some, crazy, early riser.

He decided that for the next few hours he might as well get a head start on the Wolfsbane potion for Teddy for the coming full moon. He checked the time after he'd gone through his morning routine, getting ready for the day, and realized that he still had at least two hours before most of the castle would be up and about.

He grabbed his shrunken trunk full of potions ingredients and equipment out of his regular trunk that everyone saw. Once he was sure he had everything, Harry left the dorm and tower. He had many trunks like the potions one, they were easy ways to organize his belongings and, with them being shrunken to not much larger than a matchbox, no one would ever really notice them; so, they made great ways to inconspicuously carry stuff around.

Once in the Hall it occurred to him that he didn't really have a place picked out to make the Wolfsbane.

He couldn't very well use the student labs to make a potion like this, even if it had been invented already.

He paced while thinking and the motion reminded him of one, little-known, room in the castle that he could use.

Harry headed to the corridor on the fifth floor where the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy was and looked at the wall across from the tapestry.

What do I need? What do I need?

_I need a place that no one can get into for me to make Teddy's Wolfsbane._

_I need a place that no one can get into for me to make Teddy's Wolfsbane._

_I need a place that no one can get into for me to make Teddy's Wolfsbane._

After the third pass in front of the blank stretch of wall a door appeared. Harry opened the door and found the lab of every Potions Master's dreams.

There were three main areas of the lab: the fires, the preparation area, and the area with the supplies.

The countertops were a black-green marble that wouldn't react with any ingredients. There were rare ingredients that, though Harry had no idea what they'd be used for, he knew Snape would've drooled over. There were cauldrons, knives, and other equipment in all shapes, sizes, and materials.

Once again, it's a Potions Master's dream.

Harry only admired the place for a moment; he knew that he had work to do and no time for fooling around. The potion takes nearly three weeks to make and Harry had just the perfect amount of time to finish it before the full moon if he worked every spare minute he had on it.

As he began setting up his ingredients, Harry couldn't help but wish the potion was tasteless so he'd be able to slip some to Remus. It was a shame that the potion truly tasted horrid from what Harry knew about it; Teddy really seemed to despise it, and Professor Lupin wouldn't have taken it if he hadn't hated the experience of transforming so much.

He shook off the guilt he felt at having a way to help Remus and not using it and got back to chopping the Lacewing Flies.

After Harry got to a point where he needed to let the Potion simmer for 13 hours and 22 minutes he left to go back to Gryffindor Tower. He would've headed down to breakfast, but he needed to change his robes as he'd had a _bit_ of an accident with the armadillo bile, dragon liver, and doxy eggs.

Long story short: it looked like he got hit by the insides of an exploding Blast-Ended Skrewt.

It was just his luck that he passed Sirius on the way to the tower.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"It was an accident. I was exploring the castle and…well, you don't really want to know."

"Yes I do!" Sirius always was curious, Harry really should've known better that to make it seem like something interesting happened.

"No you don't. I need to change, meet you in the Great Hall?" Harry asked, closing discussion of why he looked the way he did.

Sirius pouted but he agreed and went down to breakfast. As he left he shouted over his shoulder "I've got something I want to ask you about once you come down!"

Harry had no idea what Sirius would want to talk about.

Harry shrugged out of his robes before continuing his trek back to the tower; that way he could avoid any more questions about his disgusting robes.

He didn't pass anyone else that he knew, in this time or from the future, until he was walking into the full Great Hall.

He saw Lily sitting alone and decided to abandon his plans of sitting with the Marauders in favor of sitting with her.

"Good Morning." He said as he slid onto the bench next to Lily.

"Hello, Harry. How was your first night here?"

"I think I'm going to like it here at Hogwarts. I finally caught up on my sleep and woke up early enough this morning to do a little exploring."

""That's nice. Do you know which classes you're going to be taking?" She asked, curious about whether they'd be in many classes together.

He piled a bit of breakfast onto his plate before answering. "Er…I'll definitely be in Defense, Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms. I was thinking about Astronomy, Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Runes."

Harry had learned up to NEWT level Arithmancy and Runes after the war so that he would be able to work in the Department of Mysteries. Making spells required both of those subjects, and Harry had become interested in making spells after his sixth year when he discovered who the Half-Blood Prince was. He'd actually gotten quite good at it and that was what he'd been doing for the Department of Mysteries before he'd had the idea to come back in time, even if he hadn't planned to come _quite_ this far back.

"Eight classes? Are you sure about that? I've heard that seventh year gets quite stressful." She looked concerned for his sanity, and Harry could understand her concern. He'd felt the same way for Hermione in their third year when she was taking _way_ too many classes

"I'll be fine. You have to remember, I told you all yesterday that I'm a few years older than you are. And I actually did a bit of learning in the last few years, so I'm probably far enough ahead that it won't be a problem taking all those classes."

"That might be true. How old are you, actually; if you don't mind me asking."

"It's fine, just don't tell too many people; Dumbledore wanted me to at least _try_ to blend in with the rest of the students. I've just turned twenty a month ago." Well, it was sort of true. Harry's twentieth birthday would've been a couple days away in the future, and July the 31st had already passed in this year. And just saying he was 20 made more sense than trying to explain _that_.

"I never would've guessed. I doubt anyone will think you're over eighteen, so I think you'll be okay here. What've you been doing since that you left your old school?" She really was interested, and Harry didn't mind answering her questions. He knew he would've questioned any transfer students who came to the school in his time about their past.

"Mostly I've been working on learning more, Hermione, my fiancée, would never have let me get away with just stopping my education just because I could. I learned a lot of the rarer forms of magic that aren't taught in schools...Well, no, that's not exactly right. Mostly I've been taking care of Teddy. That's definitely a full time job in itself. Other than that, I also did quite a bit of creating spells."

"Who's Te-"

She was interrupted from her question by a semi-loud shout, from a few feet away, of "OI! Marks! Get away from her!"

They turned toward the shout and saw James barreling toward them. "What's wrong with you now, James? Don't you realize I can talk to anyone I want?" Lily asked, mad about the way James seemed to think he needed to keep everyone away from her.

"He's no good!" James said in a lower voice. He'd noticed the other people in the Hall looking in their direction. "He's just trying to get close to you because he wants you; he'll use you until he gets what he wants then he'll forget all about you, Lily."

"What?" Harry had no idea where James got that idea. Harry, in no way, liked his mum in the way James was insinuating. "Where on earth did you get that idea? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Harry was truly offended that someone could think so lowly of him.

"You know it's the truth! You told us last night that you've already got a son, and you obviously didn't marry his mum." James pointed at Harry's bare left ring-finger. "So you obviously have no proper respect for women."

Thankfully no one had been able to hear their conversation because of a silencing charm Harry had put up when he'd seen how James was going to start shouting. He could only Imagine the rumors those statements would've started.

James thought Harry was some sort of womanizing bastard who went around shagging random women and then forgot about them. And he feared that Harry was trying to snag Lily away from him.

It was kind of sweet that he was trying to protect Lily from Harry, in a twisted sort of way.

Harry just laughed at James. The accusations really were funny to him; James should've just waited until he had all the information before he went tearing off making accusations.

Harry made a wild guess that that was probably what Sirius wanted to ask him about earlier.

"That's ridiculous. My son is adopted. I was his godfather and when his parents were killed I adopted him. The girl I said was his mum, Hermione, she's my best friend, _and fiancée_, who moved here with me; they're staying at the house I bought for the three of us and she's taking care of him right now while I'm here at school." Harry explained in an icy voice. He said it all calmly and rationally, making James feel especially foolish about his comments. "And, though Lily is definitely beautiful, I have no intentions of trying anything with her, so neither of you has anything to worry about from me. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to be someplace else; perhaps I'll find people to be around where my intentions won't be insulted."

He took down the silencing charm and stalked grumpily to the other end of the Gryffindor table, where he could see Professor McGonagall approaching the table to hand out schedules. He really couldn't believe that James took such an instant dislike to him that he'd act that way without ever even trying to have a single proper conversation.

He went up to Professor McGonagall, before she managed to reach the table, and asked her for his schedule.

She was a little put-off by his scowl, but let him tell her what classes he wanted to take and gave him a schedule anyway.

She, like Lily, had warned him about taking too many classes. He'd simply told her that he would manage before stalking out of the Hall, shooting a glare at James on the way out.

He didn't really have much idea where to go, and his first class didn't start for another hour, so he headed outside toward the forest.

He figured a run through the Forbidden Forest would cool off his temper and let him relax. He walked a good fifty meters into the forest, well away from anyone looking's range of vision, before he transformed into his animagus.

There was something about being in his animagus form that just made it easier when things got stressful.

As a snow leopard Harry was able to easily climb to the top of the trees. He went as high up as possible and looked around to find out where he wanted to go. He'd never actually had much chance to explore the Forest before, and this seemed like as good a time as any to start. Nothing really caught his eye, so Harry went back down to the forest Floor and just began running.

It was twenty minutes before he found himself somewhere he recognized. And it wasn't exactly somewhere he had wanted to be again. Actually, it was somewhere Harry could have lived his life without seeing even the first time.

When Harry saw the first car-sized spider he'd seen since the Final Battle, he turned and bolted in a different direction. He was very grateful that his Leopard form was faster than his 12 year old human form used to be and could easily outrun the Acromantulas, because once the first one saw him it must've called for the others. Within seconds there were over thirty of the car-sized, or maybe even larger, arachnids coming from all over and surrounding him; and Harry had no desire to become breakfast.

He eventually ran up another tree and jumped from treetop to treetop. Once he was away from the spiders he still continued the tree-hopping; it was actually kind of exhilarating. The castle outline was dimly visible in the distance and Harry knew that by the time he made it back to the school he would have to rush to his first class.

As much fun as jumping from tree to tree was, it was a bit too slow. He climbed down slowly, disappointed at the boring prospect of running back to Hogwarts, and started to go back to the castle.

He realized that he'd never actually done much fooling around in this form to figure out what, exactly, he'd be able to do, so he tested the limits of his speed and agility as he ran.

It was incredible to Harry how quickly he was able to move as a snow leopard. His senses had improved after his first transformation; otherwise Harry was sure his speed would've made things a little blurry to his vision.

By the time he was ready to transform, still far enough into the Forest that he wouldn't be seen, Harry was feeling nearly giddy from the exhilarating speed and constant wind his running had caused to blow through his hair. He'd calmed down enough to realize that, though James _had_ jumped a bit too quickly to his assumptions, it was slightly reasonable to think that Harry was actually the one responsible for Teddy being born; especially when Harry hadn't clarified the night before.

_I wonder what he'd think if he knew who Teddy's real father was. I bet James would get the shock of his life with __**that**__ bit of information; for that matter, so would Remus._

Professor Vector wasn't pleased when Harry slid into the Arithmancy classroom at the last second before the bell.

"Sorry, Professor. I got lost on the way here." He lied.

She wasn't exactly impressed, but he was still on time, barely, so she didn't take points or give a detention.

Harry hoped that he'd be able to get on her good side eventually, because he didn't really want to have a teacher making things difficult for him this year.

"You could've asked me how to get here." Remus whispered to him as Harry sat in the open seat next to him.

"I didn't know who was going to be in any of my classes." Harry answered before he started taking notes on what the professor was saying.

It was something he'd already known, like Harry had expected it to be, but he still took notes to keep up appearances.

Once Professor Vector had set them an assignment practicing what she'd taught that day Harry was able to actually talk to Remus.

"So what other classes do you have?" Harry asked, because he realized that he needed to at least pretend to not know where his classes were going to be and that he might need someone to guide him around.

As it turned out, they had all of the same classes, except Remus wasn't taking either Potions or Ancient Runes.

Now that Harry thought about it, he remembered the older Professor Lupin telling him once that he'd always been terrible at Potions.

Remus told him that Sirius, James and Lily were all in Potions and Lily was in Runes, so they'd be able to help him get to those classes.

After Runes came the class Harry was _most_ looking forward to; Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry couldn't wait to find out if Dumbledore's latest recruit for the job, Professor Lovegood, was going to be up for the job. Whereas Remus had never heard of anyone called Lovegood, Harry couldn't help but remember Luna. And then he remembered her father and _prayed_ that it wasn't him that Dumbledore had gotten to teach this year. That would've turned out worse than Lockhart.

When Harry finally entered the DADA room and saw the Professor for the first time, she'd been oddly absent from the Welcoming Feast, he had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He could've _sworn_ he was looking at Luna.

But that was impossible. Luna had died in the Battle of Hogwarts.

That must mean that Harry was looking at Luna's mother. Harry wasn't sure what to think about that; after all, he knew this woman's future daughter and from the way Luna had described her mother she'd been similar to both Luna and her father in her odd beliefs.

Harry, after seeing the familiar far-away look in the Professor's eyes, was thoroughly convinced that Dumbledore really was a lunatic.

He sighed, shook his head in a defeated sort of way, and went to get a seat.

It seemed like the students of this time were just as used to disastrous teachers as Harry was and were wary about this new Professor. The only seats left were in the very front of the room.

Sirius was looking as excited as ever as he sat down next to Harry. "Hey, Harry. How was your first class today? You know, I still have a question or two for you about what I wanted to talk about at breakfast before you left. Don't think you can get me to forget something simply by avoiding me for a couple hours."

Sirius said all this without any sort of pause and Harry wondered how he did it without taking a breath.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"If you'd given me a chance before James had caught up to you, I was going to warn you about how he was planning to be a prat." Harry saw James glare at Sirius, who only grinned in response. "But I wanted to ask you if you play Quidditch."

_Well that wasn't what I expected. I thought for sure he wanted to question me about Teddy._

"Er…Yeah, I'm pretty good. Why?"

"Great! What position do you play? Wait, let me guess…Hmm, you look too small to be a Keeper, and you seem petty observant of you r surroundings all the time, so I'm going to say you play Seeker. Am I right?" Harry nodded, once again marveling at Sirius' ability to talk non-stop. "That's bloody perfect. I needed a Seeker, anyway. You see, I made a bet against this Ravenclaw girl I know that I could come up with a better Quidditch team than she could, and no one on either of the teams can be a player for either house's team. We're planning to have a match against each other's teams in two weeks."

"And you want me to play for your team?"

"Exactly. I just need a second Beater, Moony's the first, and a Keeper now that I've found you."

"Hang on Sirius; it's been _years_ since I've even been on a broom, much less played a match. I haven't even been in the air on purpose since the motorcycle crash with-" Harry shut up suddenly, realizing exactly what he'd been about to say. He'd nearly revealed that he knew Hagrid and that would've been a tad suspicious considering that this was supposedly only his second day at Hogwarts.

"You flew on a motorcycle?" Sirius asked; an odd gleam in his eyes. Harry remembered how Sirius adored motorcycles.

"Sort of."

"Good morning, class." Came a dreamy voice, before Sirius could answer.

_Damn, she even __**sounds**__ a bit like Luna._

"Good morning, Professor." The class chorused back.

"I'm Professor Lovegood, and I'll be your teacher for Defense until winter break. Your other Professors haven't really left any notes on what you've learned, so I'm going to need someone to help me out a bit."

So far, so good. No mentions or Nargles or anything else crazy, yet. Maybe she won't be so bad. Except, I wonder why she's leaving after winter break?

Lily raised her hand and, when the Professor called on her, she told her what they'd learned the year before.

"Last year we started with stunners, shields, the exploding hex, bone-breaker curse, and other offensive spells. After that we started work on Non-verbal spells."

_They just learned stunners? And shields? I know I was already doing those by the end of fourth year after the tournament._

Sirius must've noticed my furrowed brow, because he asked "What is it?"

I waved him off and muttered "Tell you later." hoping he'd forget about it.

"Okay, that's a little behind, but I'm sure we can work more on your spells this year. Do you have any experience dueling?" The professor asked.

"Too much." I muttered under my breath as the rest of the class responded in the negative.

No one heard me except Remus, but that was because of his superior hearing, so he kept it hidden that he'd heard.

"Then that's what I'll work on with you all, for now. So, get into pairs that you'll be able to work in."

Sirius paired up with James, one of Lily's friends, Alice, who Harry was surprised to notice was the future mother of Neville, got to Lily before Harry could, and Moony got grabbed by a Ravenclaw girl who Harry had seen trying to flirt with Remus earlier.

Looking around the room Harry mentally sighed when he saw that the only available person was Snape.

As he crossed the room to go stand next to Snape, Harry saw Remus' apologetic look in his direction. From the way he kept inching away from the Ravenclaw girl, Harry could tell that Remus wasn't exactly happy with the partnering.

Harry was actually interested in finding out if the younger Snape was just as snarky and…annoying as the old one. Harry had a feeling that he would be if his scowl was anything to go by.

_Oh, well. I might as well be civil, though._

"Hello, I'm Harry."

Snape did not accept the offered handshake and instead just glared. "Snape." He said as an introduction.

Yep. Definitely still as annoying as ever.

"Alright, class. What I want you to do now is just an exercise to practice aiming and dodging. One of you will shoot light stinging hexes at the other and the one who's being shot at can try to dodge the hexes. Oh, and I want you to do this nonverbally, if you can. Do this for…10 minutes so I can see where you're all at. Go."

I knew that there was no way Snape would trust me not to try to _really_ hex him, so I offered to let him try to hit me first. "You can do the shooting first, if you want."

He just nodded and, without warning, started shooting the little red beams of light at me.

My battle-honed instincts kicked in and I started dodging. Seeing that he hadn't hit me, Snape started sending the spells faster. His aim was good, but I knew that it would get better someday. I managed to avoid his hexes for the whole five minutes that it was his turn to shoot them. It was honestly a little fun; I'd started to enjoy dueling way back in my fifth year when I started teaching the D.A and this was really harmless, so I was totally in my element.

I was smiling like a maniac the entire time. By three minutes in I was laughing my head off as I ducked, jumped and rolled around the room. The whole thing _really_ was fun. I probably thought it was a bit more fun than it should've been, but the fact that I knew even if I did get hit it wouldn't really do much damage made it more entertaining than it usually would have been.

Snape's annoyed face at my laughing made me laugh even more. This was more than I'd laughed in a while and I wasn't even sure why it was funny.

When Professor Lovegood told everyone to switch roles I gladly took a moment to re-compose myself as I wondered how to go about this.

Should I hit Snape with all I've got? Or go easy on him?

I decided to go slightly easy on him at first and find out whether he's any good with what we're doing before kicking up the difficulty to give him a bit of a challenge.

One thing about Snape, though, was that he'd never been much of a fool. He could tell I wasn't giving it my all at first and he obviously didn't like it. So I made it harder for him.

He wasn't graceful by any standards, and I could hit him with a hex every so often, but Snape did a pretty good job.

After the ten minutes were up Professor Lovegood called an end to our practicing.

Before we'd all begun shooting spells around she'd vanished all the desks and chairs, so when she told everyone to have a seat she got a few funny looks from the class.

Instead of replacing the furniture with something similar to what she'd vanished, the Professor just conjured a bunch of fluffy bean-bags before tucking her wand behind her ear in a gesture that _definitely_ reminded me of Luna. The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs in the room all happily flopped onto the comfortable cushions while the Slytherins sneered at them for a bit before eventually joining them.

Professor Lovegood spent the remainder of the class period pointing out our flaws and the things she'd noticed while we had worked.

She might have mentioned that laughing during a real duel wouldn't exactly help to keep me alive.

Believe me, though, I'd already learned that lesson from both Sirius and Bellatrix. Sirius let himself get distracted far a couple seconds and he was still laughing as he fell through the Veil; Bellatrix was just plain crazy and cackled right up to the end.

I wasn't stupid enough to follow either example in a real duel.

All in all, even though we didn't really do much, I was glad to see that the Professor this year wasn't 100 percent crazy; like, say, Lockhart or Umbridge.

In the corridor, on the way down to lunch, Sirius stepped up beside me and asked "Seriously, what was with all that laughing while you were dodging? All the cackling you were doing you were making me think you might be part of my family; the Blacks are known for being crazy, and most of us have a tendency to laugh at terribly inappropriate times." He said this in all seriousness.

"I just…enjoy dueling and I haven't had reason to duel anyone for a couple months now, so I'm going to enjoy Defense this year."

"You've dueled before?" Lily asked me.

"Way too much. I've been sort-of working on my dueling since I was twelve. I didn't really start working very hard on it until my fourth year, though. I was a couple months away from turning 15 when I had my first _dangerous_ duel."

"How dangerous is _dangerous_?" Lily seemed to be getting that motherly worry that 'Mione was famous for.

I'd bet that if I tell her exactly how dangerous it was she'll start yelling at me exactly like I know Hermione would if I were to ever tell her exactly what happened when Voldemort kidnapped me from the tournament.

Should I tell her, or should I just smooth it over?

We'll see how bad she wants to know first…

"I don't think you really want to know, so I'll just keep that to myself for now." My voice was light and joking, so they all knew that if they pressed for information I _would_ tell them.

I tried to walk away down the corridor, but soon felt a tugging on the back of the neck of my robes.

"Forget that idea; spill. I wanna know how dangerous it was. I need to know whether you're one of those people who needs to be watched carefully for trouble."

I smiled in a 'you asked for it' kind of way before answering, and expecting the explosion I was sure would follow. "Well, he definitely tried to kill me, and he _did_ murder Cedric and that old muggle. And that was the first time I was tortured, at least that was the first time he tortured me with the Cruciatus; he _had_ managed to get me a few other ways before that…So I'd say it was pretty dangerous."

Sirius and James were already backing away; and Remus was shooting wary glances toward Lily, who looked like she might start smoking at the ears any second now.

"Come again? I don't believe I heard that right." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself that she had heard wrong.

"I bet you heard right, you don't seem elderly enough to be going deaf." I knew I was asking to be yelled at by my mother, but I wanted to see exactly how explosive her protective temper was. All anyone in the future had ever told me was that she's fiercely protective of anyone she deems under her protection.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU DOING DUELING A MURDERER AT FOURTEEN?"

҉…҉….҉

҉….҉

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Author's Note- Any good? Yes? No? Maybe so? Why don't you tell me about it….maybe in a review?

Sorry for the delay in updating, nut I've started a couple new stories, and I'm about to start typing one I wrote over last summer. And Winter break in Spain isn't exactly conducive to writing for me….

Oh, Well. It's here now, and it's probably the longest chapter I've ever written for anything.

Thanks For Reading,

21ShootingStars.


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